Dream Payments has announced the launch of its payments API for insurers, and signed on its first US insurer through the platform.

Travel Insured International, a US-based travel insurer, will be the first insurer in the US to deploy real-time disbursements.

The Dream Claims Payment API is an expansion of a partnership announced earlier this year with Mastercard. Through the partnership, insurance companies could digitize and automate claims disbursements rather than printing and mailing cheques. Toronto-based Northbridge Financial was the first insurer to use the platform, which integrated push payments solution Mastercard Send into the Dream Payments Hub.

With the new API, insurance companies can connect to the Dream Payments Hub and the Mastercard Send platform to pay claims digitally into the bank accounts and debit cards of their customers.

“With the API, the insurer can quickly add digital claims payouts and disbursements to their systems, customer portals, and mobile apps to enable automated and instant claims payments,” said Brent Ho-Young, CEO of Dream Payments. “So now insurers have two options: either use our entire platform through a full implementation, or take the API and embed digital payments into their own systems.”

Travel Insured International, a US-based travel insurer, will be the first insurer in the US to deploy real-time disbursements to their customer base using the Dream Claims Payments API.

The API was built specifically for insurers, though Ho-Young noted that there is applicability in other in other verticals, such as real-time disbursements for the gig economy. According to Dream Payments, each year, insurers pay out over $1 trillion of insurance claims through slow and inconvenient checks.

“At Mastercard, we understand that developing products and services that companies can easily adopt will ultimately best serve consumers,” said Zahir Khoja, SVP of global acceptance at Mastercard. “Through our partnership with Dream Payments, we’re reimagining how insurers can attract and retain consumers by optimizing systems and getting claim payments to people when they need them most, in near-real time and digitally.”

The API will be available for Canadian insurers in Q4 2018.

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